The Thieves Eye
by Slenderpalm
Summary: Rat is a high ranking member of the Thieves Order, and he has been chosen to be the sole person to steal on of the most important things in the spiral, the Eye of the Future. Since he is so young he can pass as a school aged boy, and he must find a way to take it without anyone catching him. His plan hits a snag however when he meets a boy named Christo, who changed his life.
1. Chapter 1

Rat was awoken from his sleep when he was first summoned to go see the leader of the Thieves Order. His room was inside of the large chamber of the Thieves Orders secret hideout, it was large and roomy, and compared to some of the other rooms there, it was comfortable.

He made his way to the main chambers of their leader, his white hair was messy and he was tired, he wore his black plague mask over his face even though it was late and almost nobody was awake. He opened the door and let himself in, inside was one of the nicest rooms in the facility. On a chair behind a desk was the Thieves Order leader, Erin Skullstone. Her blonde hair was up and she looked serious.

"Sup Erin" Rat yawned out, she didn't look amused.

"Rat I have a really important job for you, one of our most risky" Erin grasped her hands in front of herself and sighed, "Please sit…" Rat pulled a chair over and sat at it, he was quiet knowing this was serious.

"Since you are one of our best men, and in the higher ranks the youngest, I have a job that can only be done by you. As you know Wizard City is one of the most troubling worlds to the Thieves Order, they produce strong wizards and honestly are a real threat. Recently Malistaire Drake has stolen the Eye of History from Bartleby the grandfather tree in Ravenwood, everyone really was shocked that this happened and it almost stopped everything in Wizard City. Now this is where I think we can take advantage of this situation. Rat I want you to steal the Eye of the Future."

He sat quietly for a second and pondered over the idea, "I'm a few years over school age…" he reached behind his head and unclipped his mask, his face almost as pale as his hair. "I guess I could look younger."

"You're one of our youngest members with the ability to be able to pull this off, and as you have already guessed you're gonna have to pretend to be a student. We have had people forge some paperwork, and you might wanna get used to your real name, teachers usually don't use nicknames." Erin smiled as Rat nodded in agreement.

"Yea I think that's a doable job, do I have a timeline?" Rat stood up getting ready to leave.

"You'll be starting at the end of the first semester which is in a few days, you have till the end of the year. Please do take your time, I don't want you getting caught." Erin reached out her hand and Rat shook it. "Good luck Valerian" Rat paused and Erin glared at him, "get used to it"

Rat nodded, "I'll try." he picked up his mask and strapped it on. He opened left her chambers and made his way back to his room.

Inside of his room he sat at a small desk, his stuff was scattered across it and he picked up a small piece of paper he had found in one of the first purses he stole, it was an acceptance letter into Ravenwood, he wondered if the girl he stole this from had graduated already, probably, it's been years. He never went to school so this was going to be weird.

He unclipped his mask and rested it on his desk, he wouldn't be able to wear it at the school, how disappointing.

About a week later he arrived at Ravenwood, since the school year had already started he had to check in at the headmaster's office. The world gate was inside of Bartleby, Rat supposed that if the tree lost his second eye, then maybe they would have to shut down the gate. He made a quick walk to the main office and met headmaster Ambrose.

"Ah hello Mr. Roseshard, welcome to Ravenwood. I do hope you enjoy your stay, I just wanted to make sure you get settled into your dorm. Since here at ravenwood we do have a lot of students some of them have to have roommates and your starting halfways through the year so of course you will have to have a roommate." Ambrose sat at his desk and pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to Rat, it had a key attached to it and his roommate's name. "You will be sharing a room with one of my brightest students, I do hope you get along."

Rat nodded, "Thank you sir, I do hope we will get along fine." He shook hands with Ambrose and walked out of his office and towards the dorms, he looked at the paper, the name written on it was Christo Moondust. Rat sighed and walked to the door, he put the key in the door and it opened up to a small room, two beds were inside and on one of them was a blue haired boy.

The boy looked up from the book he was reading and smiled, "Hey you must be Valerian, I'm Christo." He got up to great Rat with a big smile on his face the entire time.

Rat smiled back and shook his hand, "You can call me Rat, I prefer it over Valerian."

Christo nodded, "Well, welcome to Ravenwood Rat."


	2. Chapter 2

Rat started to unpack his stuff from the trunk he brought, he had borrowed it from one of his friends in the Thieves Order, it was worn and had a small hole in the side. Christo sat quietly on his bed watching Rat. It was really strange for Rat to meet someone so nice, back home it's more competitive, and manners go right out the door.

Rat unpacked everything but the box at the bottom of his trunk, he had brought his mask, just in case he needed to sneak around. He couldn't let anyone see his mask though, he was actually really well known in Marleybone, he did a lot of work there. So he kept his mask in a locked box.

When he was all done he carefully shoved the trunk under his bed and turned back to Christo who was still sitting there quietly, "You don't say much." Rat remarked sitting down on his own bed.

Christo smiled, "You looked busy so I didn't want to bother you, plus it's fun to watch you" his voice was really polite as he spoke, "So how do you like it here so far?"

"It's okay, not great." Rat lied, he actually did like it here, everyone was way nicer to him, but then again they have no idea who he was. Rat stood up and walked to the door, "I'm going for a walk" Christo looked a little upset, he was like sad puppy, Rat felt bad, "You wanna come? I don't actually know my way around here."

"No it's fine, I have to meet my friend in the shopping district anyways." Christo got up and grabbed his wand off his nightstand. "I'll see you later Rat" Christo smiled at him and walked out the door.

That was weird. Rat went out too and looked around, it was busier than when he arrived, class must of been in session when he came through the world door. It was a nice day and a lot of people were hanging out with their friends. Rat walked around looking at all the schools, when he got to the spot where the death school should be it was gone, he had heard about the death school falling, he never thought it meant the actual school had fallen.

He made his way out of Ravenwood and out towards the commons, a lot of people were here, a lot of them already graduated, a girl with pale blue hair was near a tree handing out newspapers. Rat made his way to her.

"Hey can I have a newspaper?" Rat spoke nicely and she looked at him and smiled.

"Yeah sure!" She handed him the paper, "Haven't seen you around before, you new?"

Rat nodded, "Yea I just got here today,"

"Oh are you Christo's roommate?" as she spoke she put the rest of her newspapers away into her bag.

"Yea I am,"

"Hi, I'm Kestrel, I'm his friend." She put out her hand and he shook it, "Though I haven't seen him yet today, he usually helps me with the newspaper, he never met me in the shopping district."

"Really? He left for the shopping district like ten minutes ago." Rat caught himself a little concerned.

"Oh dear… could you help me look for him?" Kestrel swung her bag over her shoulder, she looked really nervous.

"Yea sure" Rat nodded and Kestrel a little bit.

"Thanks, let's start in the shopping district" She let him into a tunnel to their left and they came out in the shopping district, It was busy and people were running around with bags from the stores. Kestrel led him to the fountain.

"This is where we usually meet I don't understand where he could of gone!" Kestrel was starting to panic and Rat noticed.

He put a hand on her shoulder and tried to calm her down, "Hey it's okay we'll find him, Wizard City isn't that big we'll find him in no time."

Kestrel looked at him and nodded, "Yea I guess." Rat carefully took her hand and led her around all the shops looking, finding nothing Rat turned to look at Colossus Boulevard, the gate was up off the ground only a little bit, though it was big enough for someone to fit under.

"He couldn't have gone in there could he?" Rat was really worried now looking at the gate.

"He wouldn't… the place is overrun by gobblers…" Kestrel gripped Rats hand hard. "We should check."

Rat shook his head, "If it's overrun you stay here, he might just be in the bathroom or something so you should stay here incase he comes back."

Kestrel looked at him wide eyed, "It's only your first day how could you possibly fend off a group of gobblers on your own!"

Rat got down on the ground getting ready to go under, "I can handle myself quite fine, I'll see you in a few minutes." he smiled at her and rolled under.


	3. Chapter 3

The tunnel down to Colossus Boulevard was cold, the stones started getting covered in frost halfway down. Rat was starting to regret not bringing a jacket, hell, he didn't even have sleeves. When he made it to the end of the tunnel, he was blinded by how bright the snow was. When he got used to it he took a look around. There were gobblers everywhere, just like Kestrel said. He scanned the area for any sign of Christo. On the sidewalk he saw a familiar wand.

He sighed, walking over to the wand and picking it up. "Great, he probably got kidnapped or something," Rat spoke to himself quietly and shoved the wand in his pocket. The gobblers were looking at him funny as he walked down the road, it was strange that they weren't attacking him. He made his way to a section of the street with a large statue in the middle and looked around once again.

He was starting to get frustrated that he was seeing no other signs of Christo, when he heard somebody scream from up the hill. He ran up and saw Christo being surrounded by gobblers. He sighed and ran over to him. Rat kicked one of the gobblers that was on top of Christo off, it screamed and the other gobblers looked at him, when they saw him they all got off Christo and ran.

"That was…. weird…. Why did they only attack you…." Rat looked down at Christo and put out his hand to help him up. Christo took it and looked very surprised. "What… You're looking at me funny…" All of a sudden Christo hugged him, and Rat's first instinct was to go stiff. "Um… buddy…. You okay?"

"They were gonna fucking eat me!" Christo was still holding onto Rat, who was still looking at him like he was insane. Christo looked at him and saw he was uncomfortable and let go.

"Well… Anyways, why did you even come down here?" Rat asked starting to walk back.

Christo looked a little embarrassed, "I was throwing my wand around and I dropped it. It ended up rolling down the tunnel."

Rat smiled at him, "Well, at least it wasn't anything horrible, like you were pushed or something." As they made their way to the gate again, another question crossed Rat's mind. "Why did they avoid me?"

"Gobblers can sense magic energy. You probably have a lot, so they avoided you." Rat went under the gate and helped Christo through after him. Kestrel was still there waiting for them.

"Oh my god, what happened!" Kestrel ran over to Christo, who was a little beat up from the gobblers.

"I just got jumped by a few gobblers, it's no big deal." Christo smiled at her and they hugged. Rat smiled at his work and looked at the sky, it was starting to get dark. Night would be the best time to scope out the area around the tree.

"It's getting late, we should head back." Rat said, gesturing towards the commons.

"Oh, Rat, I totally forgot to say thanks." Christo smiled at him as they started walking back.

"Wait, his name is Rat?" Kestrel was following behind kind of confused.

"Well, my real name is Valerian, I guess I forgot to tell you." He grinned and she laughed, the three headed back to the dorms before the sun set all the way. Almost nobody was out now. They said bye to Kestrel, who went to the girls' dorm. They got into the dorm and both of them flopped onto their beds.

Rat started to pull the stuff he had gotten out of his bag. He threw Christos wand back to him,

"Thanks, that's the whole reason I went down there in the first place." Christo smiled and walked off to go get ready for bed.

Rat kept going through his bag and pulled out the newspaper he had gotten earlier. He decided to flip through it, on the front page was just some stuff about school updates, an upgrade to a few policies, blah, blah, blah. He turned the page finding no interest, on the second page was a picture of the Oasis, the story under it was of someone from the Thieves Order stealing one of the ancient statues from inside the pyramid. Rat knew who did it, it was one of the higher ups.

"Disgusting, isn't it?" Rat jumped and looked behind him to see Christo. He must of been reading from behind him. "Everyone in the Thieves Order are pigs, they have no consideration for others and just want money."

Rat's heart sunk a little bit.

"Anyways, I'm heading to sleep, try not to stay up too late, they're going to give you your school tomorrow." Christo flopped into his bed and turned off his bedside light.

Rat sat on his bed for a little bit, trying to rethink what he had done today. He had made his first friends. Great. One of them already hated him, but doesn't know it yet. Perfect. Rat sighed and decided to not go out. Instead he got into bed and fell asleep, still thinking about today.


	4. Chapter 4

The morning came faster than Rat had expected, he wasn't really a morning person. Most of his heists were at night so he never really woke up early. He woke up to Christo shaking his shoulder.

"Wake up! The new students are being assigned school in 15 minutes." Christo was already fully dressed with his bag over his shoulder. Rat wondered how long he had been up, classes don't start till 10:00 am, it was 8:45 right now. Rat sighed and got up, he stretched and started to get changed into his normal black clothes, his bag was on the end of his bed so he grabbed it and headed to the door when Christo stopped him.

"Dude aren't you going to brush your hair or anything." Christo obviously found it odd that Rat would just wake up and leave.

Rat let a little laugh escape his lips, "I don't usually brush my hair, I've never seen a reason why." That was true, Rat hated to brush his hair, he found the process annoying and frustrating.

Christo quieted down at his answer and they left together out of the dorm. In front of Bartleby was a small stage set up, Merle Ambrose stood atop it talking to Lydia Greyrose about some of the decoration on the stage. The new students were told to arrive early, so there was about 5 other students.

Rat walked to the center of the the circle on the ground where all the other students were gathered. When Ambrose noticed him, he smiled.

"Oh good we are all here, I'm just gonna give you a quick rundown of what's gonna happen. On the first day of each semester we welcome new students with the assignment of their schools. Some students learn their school early, those students still must go through this process so we can confirm the school on record."

A girl next to Rat with bright pink hair spoke snarky towards the Headmaster, "What exactly are we going to do?"

"I was just getting to that, if you had waited a second I would of mentioned it." The girl shut right up when Merle talked back to her. He continued with what he was saying, "Like I was saying, you will all gather around the circle you are standing on right now and place your hand on the stones, they only activate the first time you touch it, and when you do a spark of power the colour of the school you have been chosen to attend will fly up. The higher it flies, the more power you have."

A couple of whispers passed through some of the other new students at the last comment. Rat wondered what he would get, Christo said that he would have a lot of magic power because the gobblers avoided him, but he had no idea what school he would be. He had never relied on magic back home, it was all mostly hand to hand combat. Rat was even more curious knowing that magic was usually based on what your parents had, he never knew his parents sadly, but this didn't really bother him. If he had parent he wouldn't of gotten the sweet deal at the Thieves Order.

With 5 minutes to the start of the ceremony Rat walked back over to Christo who was standing with Kestrel who had her pale blue hair up in a pony tail. When they saw Rat they smiled at him, and greeted him.

"Hey buddy how's it going, you nervous?" Christo asked him with a giant smile on his face.

Rat smiled back, "Nah not really, I don't really expect much. What did you get on your first day of school?"

"Well when I arrived I got Myth, my spark went about the average height. Which was a bit disappointing for me…" Christo frowned a bit at the last part and Kestrel chimed in knowing that Christo was getting upset.

"Well you can always learn like actual fighting, my friend Heather did, her spark went about average height too and she wanted to still be able to overwhelm her enemies so she took lessons in hand to hand combat." Kestrel patted Christo on the back as she spoke.

Rat knew this knowledge would be good for the Thieves Order, he tried to remember to tell Erin the next time he speaks to her.

Merle Ambrose walked up onto the stage, he went to the microphone and cleared his throat. This was the queue for the students to quiet down and get to their places. Rat walked back to the centre with the other new students.

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the entrance ceremony. You all know how this works so why don't we just get into it. If each student would please go one at a time we will get your school written down and on record."

Rat felt his stomach turn, was he actually nervous after all? That was ridiculous.

The Headmaster started listing off names one by one, the pink haired girl was first, she looked very annoyed to be wasting her time here. Must be a kid that already knows her school.

"Destiny Strongthorn" The headmaster announced her name to the crowd. What an obnoxious name Rat thought to himself. She went to the center and placed her hand on the ground. A small purple spark went hardly that far into the air. She was a storm and she looked mortified at the height. Rat laughed to himself and she glared at him.

She headed back up to the group and the others were each called up one by one. Of course Rat was called last, how convenient for his nerves.

"Valerian Roseshard" Rat almost didn't recognize that it was his name that was called. He felt like there was a lump in his throat as he walked to the centre of the circle. He gently placed his hand down on the ground and a spark flew high into the air almost passed the top of Bartleby, Rat got a better look at the colour as it was coming down. It was beige. That was the colour for the Balance school.

He smiled a bit at the height and returned to the group, some of the other students in the group were looking at him wide eyed, Destiny was one of them.

Merle Ambrose returned to the microphone to address the crowd, "Thank you everyone for coming to see the new students being welcomed into our beautiful school, and to the new students, welcome to Ravenwood!"


	5. Chapter 5

The entire school day was dull to Rat. He learned basic Balance magic from Arthur Wethersfield, and got yelled at a lot for not paying attention in class. School started to sound like a bad idea to him, there was so much to remember, and homework was just insane.

He finished class around 4pm and he was exhausted. He walked over to his dorm room and opened the door. Christo was inside sitting at his desk doing homework. Rat laid on his bed and pulled out his notebook; his notes were messy and small doodles littered the sides of the paper. He sighed and pushed it back into the bag.

He should probably call up Erin to let her know how things are doing. Rat grabbed his bag and headed to the door.

"Where you going?" Christo asked turning around in his chair.

Rat froze and turned to him, he couldn't have Christo tagging along, "I'm just heading out to go do a few errands."

Christo lit up a little bit, "Can I come?"

Rat bit his lip, he knew that saying no would hurt Christo's feelings, "I'm sorry, there are a few I gotta do on my own"

Christo's smile faded and he slumped back down in his chair. "Oh, okay. I'll be here."

Before Rat could say anything else, Christo turned around and returned to his homework. Rat felt bad but he really needed to go. He left quietly and started looking around for somewhere quiet. He headed out of Ravenwood and into the commons. It was so crowded around here, it would be tough to make a call. He finally found somewhere quiet, behind the library.

He sat down in the grass and pulled out a small crystal. He put his thumb on it and it started to call Erin. She picked up a few seconds later.

"Hello again Rat, how are things going?" She spoke as confident as she always did.

"Pretty good, can't complain."

"Not you, you idiot, the plan."

"Oh okay, well, I scoped the place out during the day and it's fairly busy then, so it should be at night."

"Have you looked around at night?"

"I haven't yet, I had plans to do it the first night but I got…. distracted" Rat started hurting again thinking about what Christo had said.

"Excuses, excuses, Rat. I Hope you are taking this job seriously. Now I know you have a lot of time but I want to get it out of there as soon as possible, before anyone catches on."

"Right"

"I want you to go undercover tonight, scope out the security, and possible points of attack. Remember to try and stay hidden."

"Can do."

"I thinks that's it, have a nice evening Rat."

"You too, Erin."

She hung up and he shoved the gem back into his bag. He stood up and brushed off his pants, the sun was starting to set. He wanted to get back to the dorm and see Christo, and maybe grab something to eat. Besides, he couldn't go out for at least another 2 hours. This idea put a smile on his face as he walked back to the dorm.

He opened the door and walked in, Christo was sitting on the couch eating some dinner. He smiled when Rat walked in the door. "Hey, how did it go?"

Rat smiled back and sat next to Christo who was eating some spaghetti he had made on the stove.

"It went great." Rat spoke eyeing the spaghetti.

Christo laughed, "Do you want some, I made extra."

"I am very hungry," Rat got up and got himself a plate from the stove. He wasn't kidding, only one break in the middle of the day for lunch, that's almost torture. He plopped back down onto the couch with Christo and started eating his spaghetti eagerly.

Christo had finished his and was cleaning his face, "Hey I've been thinking," Christo's voice took Rat out of his spaghetti daze, "you've done nothing fun the entire time you have been here, I mean, you spent your entire first day looking for me, then you had school the next day, and you just ran a bunch of errands. Tomorrow is Saturday, can I please take you out to watch some battles in the Arena or something. They are so fun to watch! It gets so dramatic sometimes!"

Christo was getting excited himself as he spoke, Rat felt like he owed him after blowing him off today. "Sure why not, I got nothing to do."

Christo was almost jumping with joy.

They decided to get ready for bed early, Rat knew he had to go out soon and really just wanted to make sure that Christo was asleep.

About and hour later Rat felt it was safe to leave. He could hear Christo softly snoring as he reached under his bed and pulled out the box that held his mask from his trunk. He pulled his mask out and opened the window next to his bed. He slipped out into the cold of the night, he slipped his mask on and pulled up his hood.


	6. Chapter 6

It was chilly out, and it was almost dead silent. Rat silently climbed to the roof of the dorms to get a better look. He liked wearing his mask, it made him feel like he was protected. When he got to the roof he looked around. There were a few guards patrolling the outer walls, they looked lazy and out of shape, they probably had nothing really to do around here. Criminals were afraid to do anything in Wizard City, knowing that a punishment would be easily given by the many magic wielders here.

He smirked at his findings and turned his focus to the tree. Bartleby was asleep, his eyes shut. That may be an issue. If he was to do this at night he would have to find a way to open his eye without alerting him. Rat looked to the front of the grandfather tree and saw a single guard watching him. He wasn't like the other guards, he was in shape and quite big compared to Rat. Rat knew he wouldn't be able to take down that guard. He would have to sneak past him.

This plan was getting more and more complicated. Rat sighed and decided to take the information he had gotten and just head back into bed. He started down the tower and back down to his window, he looked around outside to make sure he wasn't spotted and pulled himself inside.

Rat looked over to Christo, he was still asleep, snoring, curled up in blankets. He was like a little kid. He unhooked his mask, placed it back in its box, and carefully put it back under his bed. Rat got back into his bed and looked at his clock; it was already one in the morning. He sighed and pulled his blankets over himself and went to sleep. He wanted to be well rested for the next day.

The morning came quickly. Christo woke Rat up around 10am, they were going to start fights in the arena around 10:30. Christo was almost bouncing off the walls, it was clear he loved to watch the fights. He probably idolized the fighters. Rat got dressed and they headed out.

"So how long have you liked going to the arena?" Rat asked Christo politely to strike up some conversation.

"Oh, ever since I was small, they had an arena in Wysteria right near where I grew up. Mind you, a lot of the fighters from Wysteria cheat, so they usually get banned from official fights." Christo happily led Rat to the gates of the Arena inside of Unicorn Way. Inside it was bustling, people were hanging out with their friends, gossiping about other classmates and what not. It seemed to be a very popular place to hang out.

Christo walked over to a large book next to the entrance, Rat followed him to see what it was. He looked over Christo's shoulder and read the top of the page, it read 'Today's Fights'. Christo had read ahead of him, and excitingly turned around to tell Rat something.

"Oh it's gonna be a good one today! There are some high ranked fighters coming in!" Christo was almost bursting with joy, and Rat couldn't help but to smile at his reaction.

"Well why don't we find a seat where you can explain the rules to me." Rat was kind of excited to see this, and he actually liked hanging out with Christo. He was a really nice person to be around.

Christo eagerly walked Rat over to some seats right next to the ring. There were a few fighters in the ring already, stretching and practicing.

"Well, there are some pretty basic rules for the fighters. No magic, they do have one where they use magic but the arena here in Wizard City is hardly big enough for magic, it would destroy the place. You also must only attack the person until they are knocked out, if you keep attacking them when they are out of it, you can be banned from the sport forever. Then after that there isn't much for rules. I really do love this, gives me a rush." Christo was smiling away while Rat processed the rules. Hand to hand combat only? This could be entertaining.

There was a loud ring and an announcer came into the center of the arena, she was holding a microphone and smiled into the large crowd, "Hello ladies and gentlemen, I am your host like always, Ryan Lighthaven, and welcome to the Wizard City arena"

Her last statement was greeted by clapping and cheering all around, there were so many people here, the woman smiled and motioned for everyone to settle down. "Alright, alright, well, today we have our two returning champions, Kymma Sun and Blaze Skywalker. Of course, Kymma being the top fighter in Wizard City she can choose to start the match with a fight against Blaze or against someone in the stands."

Rat lit up at the last one, he loved the idea of fighting for sport, it wasn't as great as a fight where you could potentially die, but it would be nice. Kymma smiled and the crowd was going crazy, "I think I'll bless this crowd with a fight against one of them." Everyone cheered and the announcer went back to her microphone.

"Well everyone, I'm gonna need one brave person to go against Miss Sun over here, mind yourself that she has never lost a crowd fight before." There was murmurs over the crowd. Not a single person were raising their hands.

Rat thought for a second. It's one fight, It wouldn't hurt. Rat raised his hand.

Christo looked mortified. The announcer smiled, "Well, it looks like we have a volunteer! Come on down." People were cheering around Rat as he got up. Before he could take a step, someone grabbed his hand. it was Christo.

"You can't do that! You'll get destroyed!" Christo look genuinely worried.

Rat smiled at him, "It'll be okay, I'll win it for you" Christo let go of his hand and Rat made his way down to the Arena. Kymma was in the center next to the announcer.

The announcer smiled at Rat, "Hello there, what's your name?" The announcer turned the microphone to Rat.

"Oh, I'm Rat." He smirked at Kymma, who looked at him a little funny after hearing his name.

"Alright Rat, how long have you been in Ravenwood?" the announcer continued, almost unfazed.

"About 3 days now." Rat almost laughed at the shocked faces of both the announcer and Kymma.

The announcer finally spoke after what felt like an eternity. "Well, I guess today may be a shorter fight. But either way, let the fight begin!"


	7. Chapter 7

Rat stood across from Kymma. From down here he got a better look of her features, her hair was gold, and her eyes were a frosty blue. Honestly she was pretty, but Rat didn't care, he just wanted to fight.

"All right rodent boy you ready, cause I ain't holding back." Kymma taunted him from the other end of the arena, all he did was smirk.

The announcer made her way out of the way of the fight knowing that it would soon be a dangerous area. She had a seat behind one of the ropes, and once she was settled in her chair she spoke into the microphone once more.

"Alright, fight fair, you may start when you hear the bell" There was a pause before the bell that felt like forever, until finally it rang. Kymma made the first move, obviously thinking this fight would be fast, she tried to take Rat out on the first strike. She went to punch him in the face and he ducked surprisingly last minute, she stumbled passed him and he took the chance and swept her feet out from under her.

Really? This was their best fighter?

She got up quickly, a little surprised. Rat was already on her however he kicked her down with his foot, and she fell on her back winded. He took his chance and he backed up to the other side of the arena, he thought he would give her some what of a chance. When she got up she looked pissed.

"You bastard," She muttered, running back towards him this time she aimed for his legs, she did manage to reach her foot back and kick in the back of his knee, he fell to his knees and rolled away before she could kick him in the head.

He was on the ground and she was walking after him once again, he quickly got up and they were face to face once again. She jumped towards him trying to punch him in the face once again, but this time he caught her fist and used it to pull her onto the ground in front of him. She rolled onto her side and spit out a little bit of blood, there were a few gasps from the crowd.

Rat was concerned that he had gone a little too far, but she took her chance and pulled his leg out from under him. He hit his head on the hard dirt and everything went blurry, he wasn't knocked out though, he still had some fight left in him. He shook his head and a little bit of his vision came back to him.

He got himself up and he saw Kymma trying to get up but she wasn't doing very well at it. He walked over to her and pulled her up to him using her arm, she smirked at him, but she was obviously out of it, he threw her to the ground and she was knocked out.

A referee ran out to check her, she was still breathing but obviously out cold. He nodded at the announcer and she spoke into the microphone.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it would seem that Rat has won!" Cheers erupted from the crowd, "For the first time ever, Kymma has been beat by a crowd member!" The crowd was freaking out and the announcer walked over to Rat who was taking a second to make sure he was alright.

She turned off the microphone and spoke to Rat, "Hey, good job! you need a medic or anything?"

Rat smiled at her, "Nah I should be good, thanks." After that Rat walked back into the stands to see Christo, who was eagerly waiting for him.

"Oh my god! How did you do that! That was badass! I need to tell Kestrel about this she will freak!" Chriso grabbed a smiling Rat by the hand and started making his way out of the Arena though the other crowds of people who were leaving.

"So, was that exciting enough?" Rat joked nudging Christo in the side, Christo laughed as they made their way to the street. The groups of people inside were whispering and gossiping as Rat and Christo headed towards the commons.

Now this was something that Rat was used to, the people inside the Thieves Order, praising him for being so young, yet so talented.

They walked back through the commons and back to the dorms, Rat was tired and needed to lay down. They made it to the door of the dorm, Christo helped Rat into the dorm and helped him sit on the couch, his head hurt but other than that he was just mildly sore. It wasn't even that bad of a fight, he'd had worse.

"Just invite Kestrel over, I wanna see her too." Rat said grabbing a small mirror and checking his face for cuts.

"Yea sure lemme just go over to her dorm and bring her over" Christo smiled at him and Rat smiled back before he left out the front door. Rat decided to take off his hoodie, when he pulled it off, and his calling gem fell out, its colour was a deep red. Erin had told him if it ever turned red he was to call her immediately.

He put his thumb over the gem and it started to call Erin, after a few seconds she picked up.

"You are such an idiot" Erin sounded pissed.

"Hey, hey, hey, what did I do." Rat was confused and his head hurt to much to yell at her

"News has already reached here about the fight in the arena, nobody is suspicous of you but you are forgetting one of the main things you need to do when going undercover, one of them is to stay under the goddamn radar!" She was yelling now and he knew she would go on for hours if he didn't stop her.

"Okay look, I slipped up, but I can't talk right now, my roommate will be back any second!" He yelled back at her and she toned down a bit.

"Just finish that mission as soon as you can, I don't want any more slip ups." She hung up on him without anything close to a goodbye.


	8. Chapter 8

Rat held onto the crystal for a second, he sighed and shoved it in his pocket. She was being ridiculous. He was concerned with how fast the news travelled, did Erin send over people to watch Rat?

He decided to get out of his gross clothes from the fight, he threw his shirt onto the floor but before he could remove his pants, Christo walked back in. He was alone, "Kestrel was out. I talked to her room mate, she said she was-" He stopped mid sentence when he saw Rat on the couch with his shirt off. "Uh, did I walk in at a bad time?" Christo was blushing red and Rat laughed a bit.

"Nah I was just changing… you were gonna tell me something?" Rat pulled on a fresh shirt and Christo calmed down a bit.

"Oh um, Kestrel was out with her girlfriend so I didn't catch her." Christo walked over to his bed and sat down. He looked over at Rat. "You should probably have a nap or something, that was a hell of a fight."

Rat sat on his bed looking across to Christo, "I'm good, I barely hurt, I'm gonna head over to the shopping district, I wanna pick up a new wand. The one they gave me when I got here is pretty shitty." Rat headed to the door and grabbed his bag off the floor on the way. "You wanna come, Christo?"

Christo looked at Rat and smiled, "Nah I'll just stay here and study or something."

That was weird. Whatever, Rat needed to get the wand before he forgot, and Christo seemed like he needed alone time. Rat left and walked through the commons, everyone was buzzing around minding their own business. He walked over to the shopping district and took the tunnel down, he was more relaxed going down there compared to the last time. Christo wasn't lost this time, which was nice.

He headed over to the wand shop, but before he went in he heard someone yell his name. He turned quickly and saw Kestrel. She was holding hands with a tall blonde haired girl. Rat smiled and walked over to her. "Hi Kestrel what's up?"

She smiled back, "Nothing much, hey Rat I heard about your win in the arena, nice going."

"Thanks, It's not a really big deal though…" Rat really wanted people to stop talking about it after his confrontation with Erin.

"Oh, where are my manners? Rat, meet Heather. Heather, meet Rat." Kestrel gestured to the blonde girl next to her and Rat held out his hand.

Heather shook his hand, "Hi, nice to meet you."

"You too, I'm sorry, I would love to chat but I need to go buy a new wand." Rat smiled and looked at the door to the shop that they were almost blocking.

"Yeah, sure, we can just wait out here." Kestrel smiled and gestured to the shop, "Go ahead."

Rat nodded and walked into the shop, he walked in and it was pretty quiet, a burly man stood behind the counter. "Howdy there son, what do ya need?" his voice was deep and Rat grinned at him.

"I'm looking for a Balance wand that's better than the starter wand the school gives out." He pulled out his current wand and the wand vendor looked at it.

"I got a good one for you," He pulled out a long box and placed it on the counter, he opened the lid and a Balance wand with gold designs on it was inside. "It's one of a kind, and far better than the one you have now. I'll give you a deal on it. 2,000 gold."

Rat looked at it, it looked awesome, "Yeah, sure." He placed the gold on the counter and picked up his new wand.

The vendor was picking up his gold and placing it in a box, he headed to the other room to make sure it got in a safe place, "Have a nice day." The man said before completely disappeared behind a door

"You too." Rat yelled back at him, he shoved his wand into his bag and went to open the door. He opened it a bit and he heard two people talking, so he stopped.

"You know, Rat really is nice."

"Yeah, I sensed it, he is very polite, but I doubt he is single."

"Hey Christo might have a chance, he is a little sweetheart."

"But he has never acted on a crush before, what makes you say he will now?"

A crush? Did… did Christo have a crush on Rat? Rat took a step forward and stepped completely out the door, Heather and Kestrel were on the other side. Rat smiled and pretended he didn't hear a word. "Hi guys, I'm all done… wanna walk back with me to the dorms?"

The girls looked a little surprised, probably because the person they were just talking about popped out behind them. They nodded and the three of them headed back to the dorms. Rat was distracted the whole walk, he kept thinking about Christo. The girls kept trying to talk to him ,but every time he was too distracted to hear them. When they made it back to their dorms they split off in different directions and headed back inside. Rat sighed and walked into his dorm, not knowing how he was going to handle Christo.


	9. Chapter 9

It had been a week since Rat had found out how Christo felt about him. Since then, he had started talking to him a little less and in the end started avoiding him. Rat felt horrible for doing this but he didn't know what to do, he had never had to deal with this kind of situation.

It was Wednesday, and when Rat walked into the dorm, Christo was sitting on the couch reading a book. Rat was a little surprised, Christo wasn't supposed to be home for another hour.

"Oh, hi Rat, how are you?" Christo looked up from his book, his dark blue hair was tucked into a beanie.

Rat weakly smiled, "Oh um, I'm fine." He threw his books onto his bed and sat on it. "Aren't you supposed to be, you know, in class?"

Christo's Myth classes lasted a little longer than Rats, which was really how Rat had been avoiding him all week. Christo smiled at him, "Oh I have a cold, so I stayed back from class. I was coughing all night, didn't you hear me?"

Rat was out the night before, looking around at Ravenwood. "I guess I'm a heavy sleeper." he lied.

Christo sat up and put his book on the table, "Rat, can I ask you something?" Rat felt his heart start to panic a little bi., He wanted to say no, but nothing came out. Christo didn't wait for an answer to keep talking. "Have you been avoiding me?"

Rat looked at him, Christo's eyes were watery. Rat didn't want to do this anymore, it was obvious that Rat was hurting his feelings very badly. "Yes… I'm really sorry, I just... " He didn't want to say it, he didn't want to make Christo feel exposed. Rat sighed, and went ahead and told him anyways. "I overheard Kestrel and Heather… and they were talking about you… and… they said you had a crush on me."

The room was quiet, and the tension was high. Rat looked at Christo, he was rubbing his fingers nervously. "Maybe I mean… a little bit."

Rat stood up and sat next to Christo on the couch, he leaned over and hugged him. "I'm sorry I ignored you. I am so sorry. I just didn't know how to deal with the news." Christo hugged him back.

"You know I'm sick you should probably stop." Christos voice was shaky and Rat felt his tears on his back. They pulled apart and sat there quietly for a second.

Rat was confusing himself, Christo was very good friend of his at this point, but did he… like him in _that_ way? He was getting way too close to Christo in the first place, this whole relationship was getting in the way of the mission. Erin would be livid if she knew anything about this, she would pull him out of the school immediately.

That night Rat couldn't sleep, he kept thinking about Christo. He pulled himself out of bed, he looked over at the other boys bed and saw him sleeping, his hair was gently sitting around his face and he was snoring lightly.

Rat was getting angry with himself, he could not fall for Christo. He did not want to ruin the mission, he needed to get the eye and get out as quickly as possible. But right now, he needed to calm down.

He reached under his bed and pulled out his mask and strapped it on. Once again he looked at Christo. With his anger boiling, he jumped out the window and landed on the grass outside the dorm.

The fresh air was nice. He liked being out, he wanted to just forget about Christo for right now. He ran up the side of the Storm school and sat atop it. He looked at the sky and started to relax.

"Hey!" Rat jumped up as he heard a guard yell at him.

Shit. He was careless. He jumped across to the Ice school, the roof was cold and he slipped down. He tumbled to the ground in front of the school and he arched in pain, he felt his side and his ribs hurt like hell.

"Stop him!" He could hear the guards closing in, he jumped up and started running. He managed to lose them behind the dorms. He just needed to climb into his window and he would be safe.

He looked around one last time and got into the window he shut it and ripped off his mask. He could hear the guards still outside looking for him. He threw his mask back under his bed and pulled up his shirt, his side was completely bruised.

He murmured a curse to himself and pulled down his shirt, his eyes were steamy and he was in a lot of pain. Rat couldn't go to a doctor either, the guards saw him fall and if they knew about this they would be on his ass in no time.

He pulled out the first aid kit and started wrapping it, it was the best of what he could do with what he had. Once he was done he sat down on his bed, Christo hadn't stirred in all the commotion.

What was he doing anymore, Rat laid down in his bed and through the pain tried to fall asleep.


	10. Chapter 10

The morning came too quickly. Christo was already sitting on the couch drinking coffee when Rat woke up. Rat pulled himself up and winced in pain, remembering his injury from the night before. Luckily, Christo didn't see the pain on Rat's face. Christo looked up from the newspaper he was reading. "Hey! I hear that we're having a field trip today."

Rat pulled his feet to the floor and hobbled to the kitchen to grab some food. "Oh yeah? Do you know where?"

Christo reached over to a small paper Kestrel had given him, "Well, supposedly we are heading to grizzleheim, I hear it's really nice this time of year… we will probably be looking at some of the history, though I know it all so it's gonna be fairly boring."

"Sounds like fun." Rat pulled on his clothes and headed to where Christo was. He handed him the paper and Rat looked over it, "We should head out then,"

"Okay, I just need to grab the paper from Kestrel. She is staying back to help hand out newspapers." Christo murmured as he picked his bag up off the floor, "Apparently there is some urgent news in the paper, so they need people to get the word around all day. I was going to help too, but I didn't feel like leaving you alone on the field trip." Rat and Christo laughed as they headed out the door.

It was a bit gloomy outside, but Rat really didn't care. The two of them left the dorm and looked around for Kestrel. She was outside the girls dorm giving out newspapers to the ladies leaving it. She smiled when she saw them, "Hey guys, hope you have fun on that field trip. I'm using the newspapers as an excuse to not go. I hear they're going to have a giant bonfire, and I'm not a fan."

Christo nodded, "It's okay Kestrel, I'll let you know how it was." He was about to turn away when he remembered why they came to see her. "Oh! Could I have a newspaper?"

"Sure!" She handed the newspaper over to him and checked her watch, "You two should hurry into the world tree, the classes are leaving in 10 minutes."

Christo thanked her for the newspaper, and him and Rat headed to the World Tree. There were a lot of people inside and the chatter was loud. Rat led the two of them to one of the ledges inside, they threw their feet over and sat and waited for the trip to get started. Rat looked at the ceiling and watched the leaves sway, it was kind of relaxing. "Hey Rat!" Christo's voice cut into Rats day dream.

"What is it?" Rat looked down and saw Christo looking in the newspaper, he caught a headline that made his stomach churn.

"Masked Man Caught Snooping In Ravenwood." Christo read it aloud, and Rat wanted to cry. Erin would know of this already, and would probably make him rush the mission. Christo started to read the paragraphs underneath it, "The guards describe the mask as a white plague doctors mask, a mask worn by old doctors in Marleybone. It's unknown if this is some sort of gang activity, but if anyone sees anything they are asked to report to headmaster Ambrose." Christo looked over it again. "That's weird, why would anyone be out passed curfew, let alone in some funky mask."

Rat was silent, but Christo just went onto the next article. It was something about a festival in Krokotopia. Rat tried to smile and nod at whatever Christo was saying, but his mind was preoccupied. In a few minutes Lydia Greyrose headed to the centre of the tree. As she did the loud chattering got quieter. Rat tapped Christo on the shoulder and he stopped talking and looked at Lydia.

Lydia smiled as it got quiet. "Ah, hello ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to this little trip to Grizzleheim. I just need to go over a few rules before we head there. Due to the growing problems with monster attacks outside of Wizard City in the other worlds, everyone is to have a buddy." A murmur in the students broke out, and people started gathering their friends. "Students! You will have time to choose after we get there."

Rat reached over and grabbed Christo's hand. Christo was a bit shocked as he did, and Rat laughed. "Buddies, right?"

Christo blushed, "Yeah."

Lydia finished up her speech, and the students started to pile through the spiral door. There were about 40 students, it wasn't a lot but still quite a bit to pile through the door. Rat and Christo were some of the few last people going through the door, when they made it through they found the temperature around them get a bit colder.

"Damn it's cold." Rat rubbed his arms, and Christo grinned.

"What did you expect, half the place is ice." Christo laughed as they followed the group of students to the main area of Northguard. They looked around as bears showed them the things they sold and talked about their history.

Rat and Christo wandered around and made their way to the east gate. They stood there, and Rat got an idea. He looked around for any teachers and grabbed Christo's hand. "What are you doing Rat?" Christo was confused as Rat led him passed the gates and over the bridge. "Where are we going!"

Rat knew where he was going, he came here once when he was a bit younger. He had stolen a few artifacts from some of the houses, but while he was looking around he found a waterfall. They entered a small enclosed area. It was obviously somewhere they weren't allowed. "You were saying this was going to be boring for you, right? Well, here is something that's a bit interesting."

Christos face lit up as he saw the blue lake and waterfall. "Rat! How did you know this was here?" Rat didn't want to answer him, he hated lying. You can't lie if you don't talk. He led Christo behind the waterfall and sat down on the stone. Rat patted the stone next to him, and Christo walked over and sat. "This is really nice Rat, though don't you think we are a bit close to the monster areas?"

"No, we should be fine, as long as none of the teachers catch us." Rat laughed, "Just relax. It's nice here, and way better than a stuffy classroom."

"I guess it is relaxing." Christo smiled and got up, walking carefully along the edge.

"Don't do that Christo, you could fall in… or get pushed."

"Is that a threat?"

"It could be...:" Rat jumped up and Christo jumped away from the edge of the lake.

"You almost pushed me in!" Christo squealed.

"I was not! I'm not _that_ mean." Rat laughed. He walked over to Christo, "It's probably super cold and what if a teacher saw you soaked to the bone, we would both be busted."

Christo plopped down on the edge and Rat followed. They sat for a second on the rock, "Hey, Rat…"

Rat looked over at him, "Yeah Christo?"

Christo blushed a bit before he spoke. "What do you think of me…"

Rat smiled a little and thought to himself, "You're a pretty cool dude."

"I guess I have that going for me," Christo smiled.

They sat quietly for a bit, and Christo leaned his head on Rat's shoulder. Rat looked down at him a little shocked, but he looked comfortable so he let him be. He really didn't mind, the fact that Christo liked him was starting to become a warm idea to Rat. His feelings were conflicted at first but the more they talked, the more they were around each other, it became clear.

"Hey, Christo…" Rat almost whispered. The younger boy looked up from his shoulder and their eyes met. Rat leaned down and placed his lips on Christos.


	11. Chapter 11

Christo and Rat had kissed, it was undeniable. Christo sat there shocked, and Rat looked away quickly. He was messing this is all up, why was he doing this.

"Rat… did we just…" Christo was almost tomato red blushing.

"I… guess." Rat shuffled a bit away from Christo.

The two sat in silence for a few moments. Rats mind was going insane, his thoughts full of what Christo would think of him after his mission, and what Erin would do to him after she found out about the relationship. Knowing her she would see it as a loose end, and Rat did not want to think about what she did with loose ends..

"Rat?" Christo was looking at him, Rat noticed that his eyes were welling up and wiped them quickly.

"Yea man, what's up?" Rat smiled

"We should head back to the group, the class is leaving in half an hour." Christo stood up and offered his hand to Rat.

Rat took it and Christo helped him up, "Shit man I didn't realize how long we were here…."

Christo smiled, "Well that's good! That just means we were having fun!"

Christos positivity cheered up Rat a bit, and he laughed a bit, "Are you saying you enjoyed our little lip fiasco back there?" He raised his eyebrow.

"Sure did," Christo looked down a little bit, "I really hope it's not a one time thing."

Rat smiled and ruffled Christos hair, "I can see what I can do."

The two laughed together and headed back to the entrance overlooking Northguard, they crouched in a bush to the side of the trail to make sure nobody saw them. The class was at the spiral door, a few of the bears were handing out small pieces of wood to each of the students. Rat and Christo moved quickly away from the bush and slowly made their way to the back of the group. Christo was giggling the whole time, Rat was pretty sure this was the most defiant Christo has ever been.

The class made their way through the spiral door and back into the world tree. The students were dismissed and the crowds mostly stood around the entrance to the tree still talking about what they saw or just hanging out with their friends. Christo headed to check on Kestrel while Rat headed back to the dorm. He opened the door and placed his things on his bed.

He heard a small beeping as he dropped his bag, he reached his bedside drawer and opened it up. His communication crystal was inside, beeping away. Erin must have been trying to contact him. He picked it up and answered the incoming call he was getting, Erin's voice croaked through the crystal.

"Oh look here, someone decided to answer." She sounded pissed,

"Look Erin I-"

She interrupted him before he could say anything, "Rat I am beyond confused with you. Here I thought you were one of the best men I have but the Ravenwood News has other thoughts. Being seen Rat? Really? Very amateur of you." Rat bit his lip as she spoke, there was no way he could explain himself.

"Oh and another thing Rat, now that we have this new light on us I'm going to have to rush the mission. Ambrose has ordered more guards and protection, they are on their way as we speak. You have tonight and tomorrow night before they arrive, I want that eye, If you don't get it I'm pulling you off of this mission and you can kiss your ranking goodbye. Also don't you dare plan anything, I have eyes everywhere…" Erin hung up before Rat could protest.

The room was suddenly filled with thick silence, Rats mouth was dry. Two nights? Fuck. He collected himself and put his bag around his shoulder. He needed time to think this over. If he completed his mission this would all be over, he would leave and never have to think about any of this ever again, but he didn't want to leave Christo. He headed to the door and went to open it but someone slammed it open from the other side and hit him in the nose. "Ow, what the fuck." Rat yelled.

Christo was on the other side of the door and looked mortified, "Oh my god Rat I'm so sorry!"

Rat looked at Christo and laughed, "It's fine, just hurts."

The blue haired boy was still panicking, "Listen if there is anything you want me to do to make up for this name it."

Rat let go of his throbbing nose and looked around the room for a second, the place was a mess, dirty clothes, dishes, school papers. Rat smiled, "How about you just clean this up."

Christo sighed in relief that it wasn't anything too harsh, "Sure I'll have it done by tonight." he smiled and let Rat pass him, "Sorry about your nose again!" he yelled as Rat walked out.

Rat grinned and waved bye to Christo as he made his way down the street towards the arena, he needed to think and the arena was the best place to do that.


	12. Chapter 12

He left the arena a few hours later, still was unsure of what to do. He had tonight and tomorrow night to act, which gave him at least 24 hours to decide what actions to take. Rat sighed and looked at the sky, as the sun was setting. It had been a long day, with the field trip and all.

The walk to his dorm was a bit tiring after his long time in the arena, but he made it to the door and opened it up. Inside it was very clean, the beds were made, and the kitchen was almost spotless.

Christo was sitting on his bed, looking a bit worried. Rat frowned, "Hey, what's up?"

Christo jumped at the sound of Rat's voice. "Oh hey, uh, nothing."

Rat walked over and plopped down next to Christo. "You sure man? You look like you've seen a ghost or something."

Christo opened his mouth and hesitated. "W-well, when I was cleaning earlier, I found the case for your wand. I didn't really know where to put it… so I went to put it in your trunk." Rat went cold, but stayed silent. "Rat…. what is this..?" Christo went beside his bed and lifted up Rat's mask.

"It's… just something I bought to hang on my wall." Rat said panicking.

"Bullshit! Don't lie to me, Rat!" Christo raised his voice, and tears were forming at the corner of his eyes. "This is exactly the one they were looking for in the paper!"

"No, honestly, it's not!" Rat yelled, trying to keep himself together.

"Rat, who the hell are you and what are you doing in Ravenwood?"

"Christo! It's not what you think!" Rat stood up and was on the verge of crying himself.

"God, I cannot believe how stupid I've been! I mean, how could someone actually put up with me for this long? You even kissed me! You probably don't even like me." Rat opened his mouth to speak but was quickly interrupted. "If you don't tell me what you are actually here to do in the next 30 seconds, I will walk out of here and go directly to the Headmaster."

Rat sighed and lowered his head in defeat. "I was forced to come here and steal Bartleby's second eye. This wasn't my choice."

Christo was still for a second, the tears slowly running down his face. "Who made you?"

Rat sat down on his bed, keeping a safe distance from Christo. "I'll tell you everything, the entire story, but you have to promise not to tell anyone…"

Christo hesitated slightly before nodding. "Alright, I'll hear you out."

Rat sighed and began recounting the events that led him here. "When I was very young, maybe 8 or 9, I joined the Thieves Order." When he said the name he could see Christo tense up a bit, but he continued anyways."Soon it became notable that, even at a young age, I was one of the best fighters, and when you're so little, it's very easy to get away with thievery. Then, for the next 10 years I rose in ranks, and eventually became second in command. Everything was strictly business there, you do your job or you're forgotten. Then the whole situation with Malistaire happened, and it stirred up a bit of trouble for us, with security tightened everywhere. My boss got the idea to steal the eye from Bartleby. I was chosen to do it because of my rank and how young I look." Rat sighed and looked at Christo. "But I didn't fake anything with you, I really do like you…. But if my boss ever found out about you… she would kill you."

Christo's eyes widened, and after a few tense moments he spoke. "When do you have to get it?"

"She gave me tonight and tomorrow night before they beef up security here." Rat buried his head in his knees. "I'm so sorry that I lied to you, but you have to understand, I had no choice…"

They sat for a moment in silence. "I'm not going to tell anyone…." Christo said quietly, "but you have to understand, I have no way of knowing you're telling the truth."

"I'll get it tonight, and then I'll leave. You won't ever have to worry about me again." Rat slowly looked over at Christo. This whole situation was so frustrating. He never got what he wanted his entire life growing up, and the one time he does, he ruins it.

Christo frowned. "I'm going to go to bed, and when I wake up, you better be gone."

Rat nodded and sat where he was as Christo curled up into his bed and turned off the light. Everything felt like it had happened so quickly, but it was already quite late. He slid himself off his bed and picked up his mask from the floor. He looked at it, studying the small nicks and scratches from years of wear.

He threw the mask on his bed and picked up his bag, before taking a quick glance at Christo and listening to his soft, steady breathing. He must have already been pretty tired before their fight. Rat walked over to Christo, and quickly but carefully kissed him on the forehead. He held himself back from crying as he went over to the window and quietly opened it. He climbed out and plopped on the soft grass below.


	13. Chapter 13

Rat pulled a sword from his bag and held it comfortably at his hip, It was dark in Ravenwood, and the stillness in the air made him uncomfortable. He followed the shadows of the large wall surrounding the area until he made it to behind Bartleby. He quickly ran from his hidden spot started climbing up the back of the currently sleeping tree. None of the guards had noticed him yet but there was still a large guard in front of the tree.

Rat got to the upper branches of the tree and climbed above the eye he was to take, he held himself up with a vine and repelled down to the eye. He carefully slipped the sword he was holding into the edge of the socket and popped out the eye. He slipped it into his bag and from the grandfather tree came a great groan, "I cannot see…" he spoke loudly, alerting the guard in front of him.

"Shit…" Rat muttered as the guard pulled out a bow and started aiming for Rat. He cut the vine he was attached to and dropped down to the cobblestone below, though not perfectly graceful, he stumbled slightly before kicking the guard in the chest who was scrambling to aim his bow. The guards on the walls started to notice and they started to head down to the tree.

Rat took his chance with the guard on the ground to run into the mouth of the tree, the world key he had kept for Marleybone was in his pocket as he ran to the door in the centre. He slipped it in the lock of the door and opened it wide, the guards starting to file in. He jumped through the door and slammed it behind him. He was greeted by the soft echoes of bells of Marleybone.

The silence was nice, it gave him a moment to go through his thoughts. Everything that had happened, happened so quick. His back was leaning on the frame of the world door and he slowly slid down. He pulled out the eye and looked at it carefully, it was like it was a dolls eye, made of glass, but inside he could see things moving. Swirls wrapped around pupil in all the colours that belonged to the seven schools of magic. It was beautiful.

"Christo would of loved to look at this…" he whispered to himself but stopped himself from the thought. He shoved the eye back into his bag and stood up. He needed to complete his mission and move on.

He walked to the door of the old church and out onto the streets of Regents Square. It was night and the cobblestone that lined the streets was wet, it looked like it had rained not too long ago, "Great," he muttered, "I missed the perfect weather for my shitty mood," He sighed and followed his normal path he was used to walking for many years of his life.

He took the small elevator up to Digmoore Station, he passed a beagle begging for gold next to an empty food stand, he was supposed to scare off beggars from around the bar, but he didn't want the hassle right now. The bar of course was a cover for the order, the door was open a crack to let some fresh air in. When Rat opened the door he was greeted by a friendly face.

"Hi Valerian, Erin is waiting for you in the back. Hope you had fun on your trip!" Howard smiled as he was cleaning the bar. He managed the front of the bar and he had been with the order for quite a while.

Rat smiled at him and looked around at the five or six people enjoying the bar, "Not much business tonight." as he said this Croaky, Howard's assistant slammed his tray on the bar in front of Rat making him jump.

"Its cause of that stinkin' new pub in Reagents Square! People don't have to come all the way up here to get their booze! They can just pop in when they are shopping for this and that!" Croaky was normally a very bitter man but this had really riled him up.

"That really sucks guys, I hope things turn around," he leaned in closer and smirked, "you do have access to people who can take care of that pub." They all laughed and Rat waved bye to them as he pushed the wood door into the corridor leading to The Thieves Order headquarters.

The familiar scents and sounds came back to him as he opened the main door. People were around the open area sparring and practicing, a group of friends was joking around with an old camera they stole, and some new recruits were being broken in by some higher members. As he entered people started to stop what they were doing and look at him, he was confused until he remembered he had left his mask in the dorm.

He ignored the murmurs from his colleagues and went directly to the door to Erins office at the back of the room, he opened it up and saw Erin sitting at her desk holding something familiar, his mask.

"How did you get my-"

"Quiet!" Erin yelled shocking Rat a bit, he didn't dare speak again, "Give me the eye."

Rat hurriedly reached into his bag and handed the eye to Erin, the small swirls and markings harder to see in the faded light of her office. She inspected it carefully making sure it was the real deal. Once she was happy she leaned down and slid it into the safe on the inside of her desk. Once she shut the door she looked back at Rat and threw his mask at him.

"You really shouldn't leave incriminating evidence where someone could just take it," Erin smirked and Rats heart sank. He left the mask in the dorm with Christo, "By the look on your face, I think you have figured out that I'm not just talking about the mask. We know about your little boyfriend Valerian, and we will be taking care of both of you."


	14. Chapter 14

Rat turned around to head for the door but a rough and large hand grabbed his arm and twisted it, Rat yelled out as he was pushed face down onto Erins desk, "Throw him into Alric's room," she muttered turned around in her chair, Rat scoffed knowing she did it for dramatic effect. The man who had him by the arm heard the scoff and smacked the back off his head.

Rat winced as he was lifted from the desk and lead out of Erins office and down into a dark hall. He knew who Alric was, and he knew what happened to people who were sent to Alrics room, prisoners, traitors, and test subjects. Alric was an old man who had found out about the order in the early days, in return for his silence he asked for a job. He requested to be in charge of the prisoners and would control their torment. Nobody wanted to even go near Alric, he was a weird old man and not even Erin would look him in the eye.

The wooden door to the chamber had a rusty handle, it made and awful sound as it was opened right as his captor had reached for it, making both Rat and him jump. A white haired man with a gruff beard smiled with yellow teeth as he looked at Rat, "What a pretty face, it's a shame you kept it behind that mask all those years..." Alric reached out and stroked his cheek, "you will want that mask back when I'm done with you Roseshard…." his tone turned sour as he stood up and motioned for the guard to bring Rat in.

Inside it was barely lit by the torches on the walls, it was odd since gas lights were used all throughout the Order, Rat had heard a rumor that Alric refused for anyone to touch his room so that would explain the torches. In the middle of the room looked like a torture room from fiction. Tons of small little contraptions laid in even rows on a table, next to it was a metal chair, it had scratches and lots of signs of use. "Just throw him in the cage for now, I need to talk to Erin." Alric fixed his hair in a small cracked mirror on the wall as Rat was thrown into a cell at the back of the room, onto hard cobblestones. Rat wanted to say something, he wanted more than anything to mouth off to Alric, but he knew that he would not hesitate to remove his tongue.

The two men left the room swiftly after locking Rat in, he sighed once they left and crossed his legs sitting on the cold floor, his palms came to his face as he felt himself start to panic a bit. He had no idea where Christo was, and it was his fault that he got into this mess. He sat there and felt tears running down his face, he sighed and just let himself cry, there was no point in trying to stop it anymore, Erin was probably going to have him killed anyways. He sat there like that for half an hour before he hurt the rusty doorknob turn once again and Alric stepped inside, he was muttering to himself as he walked over to his table of contraptions. Rat couldn't hear what he was saying but sat up anyways, Alric looked over at the cell and cackled to himself as he saw Rat. "Wow, the legendary Rat is crying in my cell, afraid of nothing my ass." he pulled a key from his hip and stepped forward to unlock the cage, "Lets see how much crying you will do after you sit on my chair for a few hours."

For an older man, Alric was strong, he heaved Rat up and got him onto the chair with almost not trouble, although it did help that Rat wasn't trying to resist anymore. He was quickly secured into the chair by a chain on his wrists. "I'm going to have a lot of fun."


	15. Chapter 15

Christo rolled over in his bed and tried to find his pillow to tuck it back under his head, but all he felt was something cold and hard. Feeling it was wrong, he opened his eyes quickly. He wasn't in his bed, hell he wasn't even in his dorm. He looked around and found himself inside of a stone room, there was a gas light on the wall dimly lighting the room, and what he noticed the most, were the bars on the window. He panicked and jumped up to look out the window, surprisingly it wasn't to the outside, he looked out into an indoor courtyard of some sort of compound. There were people training, and fighting, "Where the hell am I…." Christo whispered to himself stepping back from the window.

He wasn't able to finish his thought as the door swung open and scared him half to death, a pale woman with blonde hair opened the door, she looked serious. "Oh good, you are up, It's rude to wake people up."

Christo was still standing in the middle of the room shocked, "did... did you kidnap me?" Christo asked panicked.

"Where are my manners, I'm Erin, the leader of The Thieves Order." She smiled and Christo's heart dropped. Rat's crime guild, the people who have been on the radar, all over the news.

"Why am I here! Rat said he would keep me out of this!" Erin laughed to herself as Christo shook off his shock, she crossed her arms and leaned against the doorframe.

"Oh honey, he involved you the first moment he started getting attached to you. He betrayed us when he told you what he was doing in Wizard City, and we can't have someone walking around with knowledge of our operations." She smiled and made a motion with her hand, a man stepped into the room, he was muscular and obviously a guard of some sort. "Take him down to see Alric, he has a little surprise for Christo."

The man stepped towards him and Christo tried to run passed him, the man stuck his hand out and grabbed him by the neck, "you're in a complex of fighters, you ain't gonna get far," the guard said smiling. Christo stopped pushing against him and let the guard bind his hands behind his back before leading him out of the cell. Christo didn't want to look around him, he knew the people were staring at him. Thoughts danced around his head as they turned down the dark hallways to Arlic's room.

Christo looked up when they stopped in front of a wooden door with a rusty handle. The guard knocked and when nobody answered he opened the door, "I guess he's out. I'll just throw ya in the cell. Alric will have words with you when he returns." He walked over to the cell and opened the door, he haphazardly took off the binds on his hands and threw him onto the stone floor. He slammed the door shut and the man swiftly left.

Christo sat up and wiped the dust off his hands. "Christo?" he whipped his head around and for the first time noticed a clump in the corner, but he recognized the voice.

"Rat?" Christo stood up and crouched next to what seemed to be rat curled up with his knees to his chest, "Rat why are you in here… what is this place,"

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry I dragged us here. I should of kept you away, I should of stay professional." Rat whimpered, Christo realized how tough this had been on Rat. He lifted his head out of his knees and Christo immediately noticed how beat up his face was bruised all over, and he had a cut along his right eye, the blood was dried but it was deep. "I'm so sorry…"

Christo instinctively lunged towards Rat worried, he didn't care about the fight they had the night before, he didn't care about how Rat led him to this situation, he was just worried about Rat. "Are you okay, Rat can you see…" He reached his hand out and gently rubbed his cheek over the cut, "We need to get out of here."

"What's the point, this place is so heavily secured, even if we do get out of here, this place houses all the best fighters in the spiral." Rat leaned into Christo's hand, "Christo they may spare me, but they have no reason to keep you alive… the worst they will do to me apparently is blind me, partially at least, everything is really just a giant blur on the right side"

"Rat, we can get out of here, you know the layout, there has to be more than one exit. I want you to think." Christo carefully pushed Rats hair away from his eyes, "We can do this."

Rat smiled a little bit and into Christos eyes, "I don't deserve this kindness... " he pushed his knees down and started to think, "I think Erin may have an entrance in her office, I've never seen her use the main entrance, it may take us up to the square."

"See there you go, that's a plan," Christo smiled.


End file.
